The Canterbury non-Tale

By David Van Biema

This year's edition of the once-a-decade gathering of the bishops of the world-wide Anglican Communion in Canterbury, England, was anticipated for years as the likely venue for a final smackdown between American and European liberals and the poorer, more populous conservatives. The main flashpoint in an ongoing theological clash: the election in 2003 of an openly gay bishop in the U.S. But the Lambeth Conference's planners turned the gathering into a non-binding conversation-only affair, many conservatives boycotted it, and the Communion staggered on like a push-me-pull-you in opposing directions. Meanwhile, U.S. conservatives continued to defect from the Episcopal Church.